Anti-corruption police to question Farooq Leghari

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Civil Court No 12 remanded on Tuesday Farooq Leghari - the former District Coordination Officer (DCO) of Tando Muhammad Khan - into the custody of the anti-corruption police for forging land documents in a 70-million-rupee case.

The court gave the police four days to question him.

Leghari went missing on Monday and it was believed that he was kidnapped.  The police did not announce the arrest up until Tuesday. Leghari’s sister Najma filed a petition against her brother’s arrest with the Sindh High Court’s circuit bench following the civil court’s orders.

Leghari, who is a grade 19 officer, was presented in court on Tuesday after an FIR was registered against him, based on accusations of corruption filed by a revenue officer from Tando Allahyar.

After initial investigations, the police requested the court for a seven-day remand for questioning Leghari on charges of forging government documents. After hearing both sides, the court decided to grant them four days.

The Hyderabad police initially believed to be involved in Leghari’s mysterious disappearance on Monday, maintained that they had nothing to do with his arrest. “We did not arrest Leghari. If he has been arrested, then it has been done so by the police of some other district,” said Hyderabad DPO Javed Alam Odho.

Leghari’s arrest was confirmed by the deputy director of the anti-corruption department Aftab Mujadad Asran on Tuesday, 20 hours after he went missing. “Farooq Leghari has been accused of manipulating land documents worth Rs70 million,” said Asran.

Leghari’s lawyer Zaheeruddin Leghari maintained that the charges were “fake” and politically motivated. Leghari himself has not commented on the arrest. He said that his family was not being harassed by the police.

However, former provincial minister Dr Irfan Gul Magsi has claimed to be a witness to the ‘arrest’.

“The police treated Leghari like a common criminal. They forced him into a car and took him away,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of the Leghari tribe held a protest outside the Hyderabad Press Club once they heard the civil court’s verdict. Protesters shouted slogans against the arrest, which they called “unjust”. They threatened to continue their protest if the corruption charges were not dropped.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2010.